holding hands with the Dalai Lama…

I’m in “Dalai Lama” land right now. Yesterday I interviewed him and we had a giggle. Tomorrow I’m chairing the Happiness & It’s Causes conference where he’s the guest speaker.

In this shot (with the crew) he’s squeezing my hand over and over. And kept winking.

Then, a few hours later, in the hotel lobby where I was working on my laptop, he and his entourage flurried by and he gave me a double thumbs up and a big grin. It cracked me up.

Some of you have asked “what is he like”. It sounds sappy, but his energy is very magical. In an ordinary way. He doesn’t try, he doesn’t force, he doesn’t judge. He’s “a simple Buddhist monk” who gets it, gets us…this is a skill. A quality. He is able to tap into the Western malaise and give us the right kind of comfort (see my last interview with him 18 months ago to read what he says about our frantic efforts to “still the mind”…his response says it all).

I feel very, very lucky.

PS. I also had a lovely, warm chat with Matthieu Ricard today. It’s been all about the monks!

Oh! I saw HH at a “conversation” session in Canberra on Tuesday. He warmed my heart. Giggling, talking about cats versus dogs, about justice and forgiveness, and the importance of eating lunch. So humble and generous. I’m still floating in a little bubble of awe!

And maybe he gets the same happy energy from you as you do from him, hence the special attention!

Ross H

I am just so darned envious. He would be an amazing person to meet. I have been reading some of his teachings lately. While I do not agree with everything, nonetheless he is a man of considerable insight and wisdom.

John Cleese says that when he meant the Dali Larma, pretty much all they did was laugh.

And like everyone else, I think you look just great in the pics – life must be agreeing with you these days (or at least I hope it is).

I like your behind-the-scenes revelations about him. It is nice to know that those who get up close and personal with him get the same kind of warm happy vibe from him as one like me, who has only read his books!

The top is Seduce and the jacket Country Rd…both from my Masterchef days. The tan – a rub-on-tan applied for filming from the day before. As I mention in a previous post, for my TV work I have to wear a lot of toxic stuff…and I have to colour my hair. It’s not ideal, but it is part of the job in a funny way. So I try to ‘balance’ things by going organic/natural as often as I can the rest of the time.

Hey!
Nice to know about your meeting
In february, he made a visit to my school and i was one of the few lucky girls to have a click,holding hands with him.
BUT, there’s more, whats better, holding hands with the dalai lama, or having your nose pinched by him? 😉
Certainly the latter, cz there aren’t many people who have got thier nose pinched by his holiness
and i am very lucky to be one of them

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about me

I'm a journalist + TV presenter. I write about how to make life better. If I had a resume it would list the following: editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, host of MasterChef Australia, Sunday Life columnist, host + producer of the Lifestyle YOU channel (under "hobbies" it would say: eating + riding a bike).
I'm on a mission to find ways to make life bigger, more meaningful, nicer, smarter, heartier.